would you rather have Rask,Hunwick & Kessel or Thomas,Begin & Recchi? something had to give! PC choose the laterPosted by pucman

Thomas, Begin & Recchi OR Rask,Hunwick & Kessel !!!

This is Recchis last season! Thomas is 35! and Begin is a lousy 4th liner who will get 4 mins a night... Is this even a serious question??

Rask is the top rated goalie prospect in the World, Hunwick is a rare & coveted YOUNG puck moving defenseman and Kessel is a 21 year old who ONLY scored 36 goals due to his Mono and torn rotator cuff and labrum... If that was PC's choice he should resign.

In Response to Re: Tim Thomas @ 5 mill a year? : Dude, Thomas did everything the Bruins could've asked of him and more this playoff season. He was great. He was not the reason Boston lost to the Canes. We lost for other reasons. Thomas did everything you could ask of him. I'm glad we have him.Posted by BruinsFaninOntario

"Tim Thomas was under age 35 when he signed his contract but he will turn 35 before June 30th, meaning that he will be considered to be age 35 at the time he signed his contract. This means that the Bruins will have to take the full cap hit for Thomas' contract for all four years even if he is bought out or retires.

So, this begs the question: why did the Bruins feel the need to get this deal done now? Most teams would not want the distraction of contract negotiations involving their starting goaltender just weeks before the playoffs. Did Peter Chiarelli really not know that Thomas would be considered to be 35 or older?"

Paully do you blindly defend for the sake of blindly defending or do you ever know what your talking about? This organization top to bottom is in the bottom 5 in operational skills. Even a sap like you has to aknowledge that at some point.

Maybe 4 years is too much, so be it. Rask isn't ready for that kind of pressure. He will be a great goalie, but he isn't rady to take a team on a deep playoff run. I have no problem with them paying him $5 million a year. He has earned it. We go nowhere withe Rask as our #1 goalie next season.

Thomas' contract isn't the reason we are in salary cap trouble. We're in salary cap trouble because of 2 contract buyouts. We are in salary cup trouble because we have too many forwards on big contracts.

Hunwick will get signed. Kessel isn't going to get the amount he is asking for the Bruins. He only stays at a lower cap number. Even then, a trade of a winger may be necessary to give the team some cap space in case of injuries.

People are monday morning judging the moves Chiarelli has made. First of Begin and Recchi can replace Yelle and Axlesson on the roster, yes Recchi was here when Axe was but Bitz can now have a full time role on the team, instead of a part time. Recchi is only for 1 more year and at $1 million, cheaper than he was last season and cheaper than Axe. Begin is the same price as Yelle, however I would've liked it for Yelle to return for the same salary. Thomas has earned his salary from the last 2 seasons, and who's to say he's going to wear down before the end of his contract. He's only gotten better each year he's been in the league and he works extremely hard in the offseason to stay in shape. As for goalies like Osgood he's not a regular season goalie, nor is he a spectacular goalie overall. He is a great playoff goalie and an average regular season goalie on a really good team. And as for $8 million goalies there is nobody yet but Roberto Luongo will become the first very soon.As for those who are judging the moves Chiarelli has made he makes moves as looking ahead to the future, sometimes his ideas don't go as planned. Who can honestly say they were expecting a breakout season from Kessel, Krejci, or Hunwick? The only thing I didn't like that Chiarelli has done is sign Marco Sturm, not a bad player but the contract was wrong. $3.5 million a year for 3 years should've been down to $2.5-3 milion for 2 years. Being a GM means making tough decisions, and from the moves Chiarelli has made so far in his tenure in Boston he's done a good job, and nothing that says he can't fix things for the future.Next season yes the cap is expected to go down, so salaries like Lucic's, Rask's and Wheeler's won't skyrocket because of it. They will sign deals similar to Krejci's in length, but only Lucic will sign one similar in cash. Rask will probably sign a deal close to the $2-2.5 million a year range for 2 years, Wheeler may sign that same deal for 3 years. You have Savard's, Recchi's, Ward's and Ference's contracts coming off the books, as well as Murray's buyout. In total that gives you roughly $10 million to sign those 3 and some role players. I love how Savard has played but if we can't move some other salaries we may have to let him go.

And nolakanookie listen to what you said, he let in a soft goal in OT in a GAME 7. Not too many goalies play into that, and it wasn't a soft goal it was a bad bounce. Blame the defense for not having Walker covered.

In Response to Re: Tim Thomas @ 5 mill a year? : NO YOU DOPE, Maybe I should type it nice and easy for YOU... Osgood is 36 going on 37 You dont pay a goaltender that age that salary. Thomas is 35 and has accomplished ZIPPO in the Stanley Cup playoffs, you dont sign someone like that to a 4 year 20 million deal. Understand peewee?Posted by Nolakanookie2

You keep missing the point, but I will try one more time. First of all, GM's can't always "play it safe". and only offer 4 year contracts to 25 year olds. If Thomas was younger, the bruins would have had to pay him 6-7 M/year. Also, just out of curiosity, what would you think if YOU were a goalie in the NHL and had just lost a 7 th game in OT, but still finished with the best save % and best gaa. in the entire playoffs, and just won the Vezina trophy, and some nobody came up to you and said you've done ZIPPO for this team. Would you punch him in the face, or would you understand the guy just does'nt understand hockey, and walk away? By the way...I'm 6'8"...230 lbs...so I appreciate the "peewee" remark

And nolakanookie listen to what you said, he let in a soft goal in OT in a GAME 7. Not too many goalies play into that, and it wasn't a soft goal it was a bad bounce. Blame the defense for not having Walker covered.Posted by joeschmo25

I think everyones missing the point here. Do we really need to greatly improve this team or just keep the core together and let them gell even more so the teams plays better and goes deeper in the playoffs? We have a very good team that has been getting better every year. Detroit is an ongoing example of this, and there are many others. For those who think TT is not a great goalie (me too) not to worry, what you guys have been overlooking is the fact his contract is NOT a no trade. PC will ride him 'till Rask or someone else shows what we need to win the cup then he'll be wearing a blue shirt or lightning bolt. Great goaltenders make the great save, WHEN it's needed. TT stats are like Kessels, he scored 35 goals against weak teams and not very important goals. TT has great stats, but doesn't make the save to propell the B's further in the playoffs. Give me a stand-up goalie anytime.

In Response to Re: Tim Thomas @ 5 mill a year? : i think you should take the negative energy you have and beat boyfriend who lives with you in your mommys basement. we dont want it on here. Posted by jessup07

Wow real classy dude...

Notice to all others, immediately put on your rose colored glasses and wave the poms poms or else jessup07 will attack all of you.

DO NOT burst the black and gold happy land fantasy world bubble that jessup resides in!

In Response to Re: Tim Thomas @ 5 mill a year? : Wow real classy dude... Notice to all others, immediately put on your rose colored glasses and wave the poms poms or else jessup07 will attack all of you. DO NOT burst the black and gold happy land fantasy world bubble that jessup resides in!Posted by SammySrx

I promise that this will be my last comment on this thread. There is no point trying to be rational with the Thomas bashers. They are never going to stop, even when they know they are making fools of themselves. They just can't stop themselves. They just keep changing their names and singing the same old tired garbage. They had to quit saying he was no good when he started appearing in all-star games and winning Vezina trophies, so now they have come up with his age and not winning a stanley cup as reasons that he is no good. I guess the bruins should just ice a team of 800,000 per year players, because according to the TT bashers, only the goalie matters in winning a stanley cup. Then we can go get Roberto Luongo and the cup is ours. Oh, wait, how many cups has he won? None? Man he must be lousy too. OK, then Chris Osgood it is. Offer Detroit Lucic, Kessel, Savard, and Chara, and see if Detroit is crazy enough to give up this cup winning machine ! GO BRUINS !!

Vezina......check!! Best save %.....check!! Hard worker......check!! Great team player.....check!! Great human being.....Check!!!! Best Goaltender in a bruins uniform in a long time........Check!!!!!!!!! ENOUGH SAID!!!!! Move on people...Posted by scottm50

Great human being? Are you serious? Do you personally know him? You dont know anything about what he does in private. Lame.

ThePhantomGourmet did you happen to see anybody covering Walker in front of the net, because the only thing I saw was Wideman get back to the net about 3 seconds after the goal was scored. Maybe if the defense did their job Walker wouldnt've got a lucky bounce.

Nolakanookie2 , if you were gm for a day what would you do? Sign Thomas for 1-2 years at 3mil? Have signed Chara for 5mil?etc etc... Do you understand there is 3 sides to the story. The Bruins , Player and his Agent, and the other teams trying to sign the player...The stat sheet for thomas failed to mention the thomas has been in the top 10 for save% of the last three years. Thomas has improved every year. Thomas would have got the money from someone else so whats your option?

Did you really just compare TT to Khabi? Khabi is a year and a half older, and has had alot more injuries than TT. Not to mention that the free agent class tanked this offseason. So maybe according to july 2009 PC slightly overpaid but when he made the deal during the season, it was great. This is a smart move for the Bruins as well because it gives Rask a mentor and someone who can split time as well. Too many goalies get shell shocked (see Carey Price) early in their career and potentially falter in the their development. The contract if im not mistaken also has a team option for the last year.

Anyone blaming thomas for the goal in game 7 clearly hasn't played hockey before...for those of you who don't play hockey and watch every softie he lets in and come on here saying hes terrible etc.. theres about 4-5 that he shouldn't get to but somehow does.. game in and game out